


Rising Shards (Preview Chapters)

by chiraledge



Category: Original Work, Rising Shards
Genre: F/F, Fantasy, Female Protagonist, Magic School, Monster Girls, Romance, Shoujo-ai, Slice of Life, Werewolf, Yuri, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27627236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiraledge/pseuds/chiraledge
Summary: Preview chapters of my ongoing web serial Rising Shards! This will include a few chapters from the first episode.When she suddenly grows fangs alongside strange new powers, Zeta Faleur has to adjust to life at Rising Shards, a Cani boarding school. Zeta sinks her teeth into her new life, from making new friends and enemies to getting over old ones, learning to use her bloodsaber, fighting wizards at trivia, facing her own memories, battling monsters, accidentally destroying art, and falling deep into a life altering crush.https://tapas.io/series/risingshards





	1. Chapter 1

At the tail end of a particularly traumatic summer, I woke up with a weird pain in my face. I went on one of my most frequent websites, 3WMB, and looked up my symptoms. It stood for What’s Wrong With My Body, a website for learning about every disease imaginable. I had a page bookmarked earlier in the year about my condition. The website politely told me that morning that the sharp pains plus my thing could be fatal.  
They knew I was a Cani as long as I could remember. Stella was one too, so they figured I’d have the same Cani sign as her, long fang teeth that I couldn’t decide looked more like vampire teeth or werewolf teeth. In fourth grade, I received a very informative book in _You Are Not a Vampire: It’s Close (Kinda) Being a Cani But it’s Different,_ and the less informative sequel _You Are Also Not a Werewolf: While as a Cani You Technically You Share Beast Like Qualities Similar to Werewolves, but There are Also Numerous Differences Which are Detailed Within_. They had a time map they’d regularly update with their predictions on when my Cani sign would show up. The map was saying any day now. Which I thought would make me feel better, but after reading some horror stories about Cani dying immediately upon their official awakening or whatever, I was in a haze of anxiousness.

Looking up all the possible reasons I could imminently meet my demise had become part of my morning routine. My usual next step after looking up Cani fang arrival on 3WMB was to worry about it for an hour, then actually get up and get ready. I had a busy day, so I cut my lie in bed worry time in half and split it with my worry over breakfast time.  
I was also practicing not thinking about my particularly traumatic spring and why it was particularly traumatic. In trying not to think about it, I felt the whispering thoughts start to creep in. I hoped shouting “PIZZA” in my head over and over would drown it out. I headed to the kitchen to swipe some leftover pizza from dinner the night before. I unwrapped the foil around the leftover fridge pizza and tossed it in the microwave as the pain hit again. It was like a sharp pain around my jaw. It seemed to get worse the more I ate. I was at a crossroads of worry; think about the jaw pain or think about the particularly traumatic summer. The pizza had betrayed me by not blocking out either.

My sister Stella was still asleep after I finished breakfast, so I could begin my busy plan for the day without her making fun of me. Or playing that stupid twangy radio station she played every morning as soon as she woke up. Full of pizza and worry, I started my practice run of high school mornings. I figured if I could just make it through this morning routine regularly, I would be OK to start school.

Step one, brush hair. I had a very specific brush pattern to keep my hair in check. It went brush, double brush, brush, double brush, triple brush, double brush. I had practiced long enough to brush my hair the exact way Raina Starlight had hers. With bedhead thoroughly defeated I felt like I could be the new princess of Staverius Academy. I don’t know if princess of Staverius Academy was a thing, but Stella went there, and she said she won it, but I wasn’t sure if she was joking or just lying or something. She also said Staverius had a zoo past its boiler room that only had pink cougars and I’m pretty sure that one was a lie.  
Step two, brush teeth. Brushing teeth did not go as well. While yes, I did have my Sparkly Diamond Sunbeam Raspberry toothpaste that looked like it was made by an enchanted unicorn dentist, my teeth flared every stroke of the toothbrush. I decided to practice uniforms instead of practicing more good dental hygiene if it was gonna hurt that bad. Feeling good in my new uniform would help me fight against the growing worry of my face hurting really weirdly every few minutes.  
The looming thought of summer was like a jerk in the back of my mental room yelling out spoilers of a movie I was looking forward to. Like of course I can try to block out the spoiler, but now my imagination’s going and I am wondering how the character dies that just got screamed at me. But instead of an annoying spoiler to something I want to see, the mental jerk in the back corner is whispering thoughts and ideas that could lead me to think about the things I didn’t want to think about.

I had been saving the unboxing of my uniforms for today, so I’d have something to look forward to. I opened the box and saw lots and lots of gray fabric. Gray…could be fine? It could maybe make my hair clips or nails pop more if I went full colorful with them? I wouldn’t know unless I tried them on, so I got to work tearing off the plastic wrap around each part. The jacket looked like a prison outfit if prisoners needed to hold like forty things in individual pockets. I would have been fine with like four pockets. Next was a plain button-down shirt. Also gray. The same shade of gray too for some reason like they were the default clothes color and they forgot to uncheck default. I saw a plaid cloth and figured that was the skirt. A skirt could save this, right? I unfurled it like a treasured flag but no. Not a skirt. It was an official Staverius Oils and Soils Removal Rag. And to cap things off, the uniform had pants. The same shade of gray. Fifty pockets. They were more pocket than pant. In the box, there were about five more sets and they were all the same thing. To add insult to injury, there was a note at the bottom of the box that said “Staverius Academy frowns upon any accessories, such as hair clips, wristbands, necklaces, earrings, painted nails.”  
Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad once I tried them all on. I got dressed thinking it was a far cry from the good-looking skirt/shirt/accessories combo from the brochures Staverius Academy had given me. and it got me off my morning readiness game. Not even like a for real morning readiness mind you, but a pretend get ready in the morning on a day where I didn’t even have to be anywhere. I could have slept in. Even my Raina Starlight poster above my bed looked disappointed in me.  
Now ready for real for my fake day of school, I flopped back onto my bed under the Raina poster. Raina Starlight was my hero. There were a bunch of stories and movies and shows about her going on adventures and stuff, she was the coolest person I’d ever heard about, and bonus, she was a Cani too. If I could even be a little like her at Staverius, maybe the gray, gray, gray, gray, and pockets uniform wouldn’t be so bad. Also she played the best character in the best TV show, _Tower of Hate and Love_.  
I made it. I made it a whole morning without thinking about Jeans. In realizing that moment of false triumph, I did start thinking about Jeans. Not the pants, because unless it was a really _REALLY_ bad pair, the pants wouldn’t make me instantly start bawling. It was the farthest I made it into trying a routine morning the last few months without crying thinking about her, but that felt like a hollow victory when I had to bury my head under pillows just to not see the spots I thought I had scrubbed clean of memories of her.  
How could I possibly start at a new school like this? I was riding at lightspeed towards getting branded the weird crying girl my first day of class.  
 _“But summer ended. It rained the day it ended. And I was alone again.”_  
A drop of water landed on my nose. I looked up at the ceiling to see if there was a leak. Then my ceiling started raining. I sat up in the instant indoor downpour, which then vanished like all the water had evaporated. I felt as foggy as my room looked for a second. Was this real? This is a dream, right?  
I stood up and tried to think of ways I could tell something was a dream. The pain in my mouth flared, worse than it had ever flared. Then a giant bolt of electricity ran through my hands and I naturally freaked out and fell over awkwardly. I was on the ground with my hands covering my mouth. I could feel the crackling lightning stop as my room cleared up. I instinctively touched my tongue to the sharp eye teeth. In just an instant they’d grown out.

“Zeta?” Stella asked. “You OK?”  
I didn’t answer, my hands were still over my mouth. Stella walked in like she always did, as if every room was a stage and the doorway was her curtain. She loved theater and acting, and it bled into everything she did.  
“Hey, what are you…?” Stella asked.  
I pulled one of my hands away from my mouth and it was covered in blood. Way too much blood. That and suddenly feeling the way too much warm blood in my mouth flipped the switch from total freak out to total meltdown and I started screaming and then Stella ran in and started screaming and I screamed some more.  
“Oh, OK!” Stella said, trying to compose herself but still frantic. “It’s time. The schedule said your teeth would be coming in next month, but…hey, hey it’s OK, it’s just blood. It’s just your teeth.”  
I was trembling like all my internal strings had been plucked. Stella was loud and anxious which didn’t help but she was trying to keep cool. She got some towels over my drenched bed and gave me one to hold against my bloody face. I grabbed a book as Stella led me out of our apartment and to her car.  
“The hospital’s not far,” Stella said. “They’ll get you all set. Hey, we can start planning your Cani awakening party now! If I remember the family tradition, it’s…what was that one lemon bar recipe…”  
My heart was racing too much to be excited about a hypothetical party.  
“The bleeding probably stopped,” Stella said. “You don’t need to keep smushing that towel in your face like that.  
I pulled the towel away slightly and felt somehow more blood rushing from either my gums or the spots on my lips I bit and we both screamed again.

I stared at a framed picture of a beach and wished I could be there instead of a hospital waiting room. I don’t think anyone enjoys being in hospital waiting rooms, but my great morning left me covered in blood and holding a towel to my mouth to try and slow the bleeding down just a little.  
Stella was still talking to the check in people, and I wished this would all hurry up. I had never had stitches before. Was this a deep enough cut to get stitches? How much stuff did I fry with that lightning? Or wreck with that rainfall? Was my Cani gift just like weather?  
How hard did I bite myself? It was taking me so long that part of me wondered if I really was dying. I survived the first part of the Cani awakening but how long was the window of potential death I read about? Would they notice and try to help me if I just started dying? Or just keep explaining the new insurance plan or whatever it was to Stella? How many Cani bite their faces this bad right away? Jerk gremlin in the back of my head asked if I deserved it. Maybe I did.   
In the chaos of the last half hour I did manage to grab my calming charm, one of my favorite Raina Starlight books. It sat on my lap and I studiously avoided getting blood on it. I’d rather hold the book and not read it than look at any of the magazines on the table like _TouchCelebs_ , _How to Make Your Child Less Stupid Monthly,_ or _Does Your Kid Still Wet the Bed?_  
But just as I started reading, I could hear her voice almost as clearly as that day.

_“Long day, huh?”  
_ I couldn’t even read my favorite book without thinking of her. With the same towel in my face, I felt my stomach sink as the rest of summer hit me like the dark grey clouds of a big thunderstorm descending over me. A nurse opened the door, and this time I was sure at least that a surly doctor wouldn’t tell me this was just a dry season and tell me that the saline thing I got to spray up my nose didn’t do anything to stop nosebleeds in a way that made me feel like an idiot. This time I actually had fangs.  
“Zeta Faleur?” the nurse said.

Stella was already by me shooing me forward.  
I got settled in the appointment room and sat on the big cushion table thing with the paper on it. The nurse cleaned up all the blood around my face, and I actually felt human again.  
“This is just like when she had braces,” Stella said. “Same amount of blood.”  
I couldn’t even snap back because the nurse was getting information down.  
“But that’s because you never flossed.” Stella said. “My fangs came in and it was like. A lot less blood. Did you fall back into the not flossing thing?”  
I tried to not kick her and just waited until the nurse finished. I wanted some answers from her on how I was doing. Basically, was I OK? Was I dying? She didn’t mention it. Before she left, she wheeled in an old TV stand and started a tape. The tape quality looked ancient.  
“The following has been paid for by the Kilander Corporation, a subsidiary of Taramin Enterprises.” A practically garbled voice said.  
“Oh, they’re still showing this?” Stella said.  
“They made you watch this too?” I asked.  
Stella just suppressed a snorting laugh. The video began with a synth keyboard solo accompanied by a painfully slow-moving title. After like five minutes of zoom it finally revealed the words “I AM A ___ WHAT ARE YOU? YOU ARE A _____”. It made me wonder why all the Cani related stuff had such bad titles.  
Some cheesy graphics swooped by and transitioned from the titles to a series of shots of people just going about their lives like eating popsicles and going through marketplaces and reading books.  
“We all live in the world,” the narrator said. “But all of us are different. Upon reaching puberty, some find themselves going through another changey change. These are the people with the Canidodutessant genetic makeup. Do you know what kind you are?”  
Then it cut to a park and the most stereotypical surfer dude with long blonde hair and a tye dye shirt wandered into frame.  
“Whoa! Fangs to meet you. I’m Thadley, and you’re like, a…well, what are you?” Thadley said.   
“ _Fangs to meet you_?” I asked. “And why did the guy say ‘changey change’?”  
“It gets worse.” Stella said.  
“You’re going through your own like, um,” Thadley said, then paused for so long I had time to wonder why they didn’t edit out his helpless stare at the camera. “…changes that are totally different than the other kinds. Let’s take a look and find out what you are!”  
Thadley then ran around the park with a cheesy fast forward effect and another synth solo.  
“There are three possible categories you fall into if you have the Canidodutessant genetic makeup,” the narrator said. “The Cani genetic makeup generally falls into three categories. The most common form is simply called Cani. Cani get at least one animal-like traits, and a unique power, such as control over bees, or hypersensitive paperwork filing. The second most common is Exa Cani, who get more animal traits, but all have the same power of shapeshifting. The third kind, Kanibari, get the most animal traits and powers. Because they are less in control of their powers, Kanibari must be closely monitored.”  
It showed a Cani with just fangs, an Exa Cani shapeshifting back and forth between human and dragon, and a Kanibari all sitting at desks. The Kanibari was like full on werewolf, which seemed to go against the title of that book I had to read.  
“Whatever you are, you’ve experienced an awakening. An awakening consists of at least a trait appearing somewhere on your body. Awakenings can occur at any age, but a majority occur between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. When an awakening occurs, the new Cani also get some sort of special ability. These skills must be honed to protect you and those around you. Now that you’ve had your awakening, you are required to attend an officially sanctioned school to nurture your changing body.”  
It cut back to Thadley running around the park interviewing kids about fangs and stuff.  
“What do you like about, uh, Cani…? I guess?” Thadley asked.  
“If you uh…my mom said that…their teeth uh like…sharp teeth uh…are fangs.” The kid said.  
The video continued like that for a while, not really offering any new information. It felt like an hour had passed by the time the doctor finally showed up, mercifully when the video was just getting to “Uncomfortable Cani Changey Changes” after I had already white knuckled it through the incredibly awkward “Cani Hygiene” sequence with Stella right there.

I was expecting my regular Cani doctor, Dr. Maerin. The appointments with him were always quick, and he talked even quicker. A different doctor walked in. My stress levels were already hitting me from a lot of angles, from scary sudden Cani awakening to hospital waiting room to watching basically a puberty documentary with my sister right there, I didn’t need sudden new doctor on top of that. She looked about Stella’s age. She had dark red hair that she lazily brushed her hair through. She entered the room chugging a can of an energy drink. Once she finished, she chucked at the garbage can and missed.  
“Hey! I’m Dr. Diast,” She said. “I’ll pick that up in a sec.”  
“Hi,” I said meekly. I reflexively offered my hand, but she was looking at my info on a tablet. She glanced at the TV screen, mercifully blocking it.  
“Oh man, they’re still showing that?” She said when she saw the tape wrapping up. “I’m sorry. ‘Like, whoa dude. Like, Cani fangs can help me nosh this sweet wave.’”  
In addition to having a perfect Thadley impression, Dr. Diast had a box under her not-energy-drink-drinking arm that she set on the counter. She grabbed some tools the nurse had set out. They all looked sharp and dentist-y. She started by measuring my fangs.  
“Zeta Faleur, pleasure to meet you, how did your Cani awakening go?” Dr. Diast asked. “Mine was terrific. Fantastic. Terrifying, but it was one of the best days of my life.”  
“I don’t know if this is gonna go down as one of the best days,” I said once the tool was out of my mouth.   
“The nurse said you had a pretty hard bite,” Diast said. “But it’s not bad enough for stitches at least. Now you get to the real fun stuff.”  
Dr. Diast grabbed a metal mouth tray thing with pink goop in it off the counter.  
“Open, please.” She said as she quickly shoved the thing in my mouth. “Now bite. Just need a quick impression of those fancy new teeth.”  
I bit into the gross rubbery stuff and held back the gagging feeling. Stella reflexively scooted back in her chair, knowing how bad my gag reflex was with doctors. I had to do all the tricks, like lifting a leg and humming to stop myself from puking.  
“OK, we’re good.” Dr. Diast said, pulling the mold back out. She put it into a baggie and left it on the counter. “Doesn’t that suck? Sorry, have to get a Cani vampire joke in. You’re not a vampire, by the way. But I’m sure your read the book, it’s very popular.”  
I spent a few minutes spitting out the clay stuff, but I could still feel bits of it in my mouth.  
Diast pulled out a three-pronged little gadget thing and held my wrist. I breathed sharply, but she didn’t notice the faint mark. There was a clear sphere in the prongs wrapped around. She pressed the three-pointed tips of it against my right palm. I felt a slight pressure from the tips, then in the sphere a tiny baby thunderstorm formed. I could almost feel inside the sphere, like the little bursts of lightning were part of me. Diast turned the device off and the storm poofed away.  
“Yep, looks like weather control as your gift,” Diast said as she jotted some notes down on her tablet. “I bet you had a very fun awakening in addition to the blood. Or was the lightning going off the cause of the blood?”  
“The cause.” I said. “I slipped when it all…went off.”  
“Eh, it comes with the territory,” Diast said. “Which is why the next part is very important.”  
Dr. Diast opened the black bag on the cart. It was filled with pamphlets and paperwork, and a small box. She opened the box and handed me a sleek wristband.  
“Zeta, put that on, and parent/guardian, you handle these,” Diast said as she handed paperwork from the box to Stella.  
“Guardian,” Stella said. “I’m her sister.”  
“Hey, no judgment here,” Dr. Diast said. “I come from a unique family situation as well. If I may presume.”  
“That’s about my line for presuming things,” Stella said.  
“Then we shall leave it at that,” Diast said.  
While Diast and Stella continued their weird small talk, I peeled the clear wrapping off the black band.   
“What is this exactly?” I asked. I didn’t remember reading about this before.  
“Power blocker,” Dr. Diast said. “As you saw today, you don’t start out with control over your gift. This is like your training wheel.”  
“What happens if I don’t wear it?” I asked.  
“You really should,” Diast said. “Power blockers make sure you don’t accidentally turn someone’s yard into hair or blow up my lab while I was in the middle of a breakthrough, making me lose all my progress on a very important research project that would have done some serious good to the people of East Valataran…stuff like that. It’s another reason that it’s best if you go to a Cani focused school while you learn to control your new gifts. Unless you’re prepared for frequent emergency renovations.”  
“Not on my salary,” Stella said. “And you should be thankful Zeta, those were a lot clunkier when I had mine.”  
I still hesitated. I’d have preferred to verify the effects of a power blocker on 3WMB, but at the hospital I felt I had no choice. With a few clicks, I placed it around my wrist and made sure it was comfortable. There were three lights on top of it that glowed blue.  
“Alright, one more thing and you can get out of here,” Diast said. “You’re such an easy patient! Compared to the last kid at least. If you smell a smoky room in the hallways, it’s ‘cause little Trilbert thought it’d be a good idea to show off a sneeze-fire before I could get his blocker on.”  
Diast pulled out some pamphlets from the box.  
“Now that you’re officially in the Cani club, you have to go to a Cani school. I’m sure that incredibly boring video brought that up.”  
“Wait like…not Staverius?” I asked.  
“Staverius isn’t super equipped for Cani these days,” Diast said. “Lucky for you, I work at a school that is. I’m only here in this building in the summer. While I am a _fabulous_ and talented doctor, my main squeeze is teaching at a Cani school.”  
“You’re a doctor and that’s how you say that?” Stella asked.  
“A doctor _during the summer_ ,” Diast said. “Big difference. But don’t worry, despite my crap verbiage I know what I’m doing. Now can I get back to Zeta’s deal here?”  
Stella backed off.  
“I highly recommend my school, Rising Shards. It’s got some garbage tied up with the Kilanders, but it’s at least super well-funded ‘cause of them. It’s the best Cani training school in the whole region. Well, tied with Falling Shards, cuz Rising is the girls’ school and Falling is the boys. But they’re only like a field apart so I kinda lump em together. And it’s one of the closest. And and _and_! I’d probably be your advisor!”  
“Would that be OK?” I asked.  
Stella had been looking through pamphlets and paperwork for the various Cani schools around here. All I had thought about a Cani school was that I couldn’t go to Wildfire Hearts.  
“Doesn’t look bad,” Stella said. “Not far from here at all. But…”  
Stella sighed. I knew the look she gave me. The “ _We can’t remotely afford this_ ” look.  
“Oh…” I said.  
“We’re just strapped for cash right now,” Stella said. “I’m sorry…”  
Diast made a “PFFT” sound.  
“As if I wasn’t prepared for that,” Diast said.   
Diast stood grinning for a bit until Stella got tired of waiting.  
“… _and_?” Stella asked.  
“Oh!” Diast said. “Yeah, my bad. I got lost in my own moment of pride. Scholarships dude! I can get Zeta in. Then I’d also really more likely be her advisor!”  
“A scholarship?” I said. “Am I even good enough for one? I’m not really anything special.”  
“I think so!” Diast said. “You seem pretty remarkable to me, and I just met you. This scholarship has a little bit of a qualifier, but I think you’d be able to handle it.”  
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. “The qualifier part, I mean.”  
“There’s a set number of things you have to do in your first semester to stay on,” Diast said, handing me a card she had in her pocket.


	2. Preview Chapters Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MORE preview chapters.

Everyone’s wristbands started to light up. I held mine to my ear to hear it over all the other ones going off. Mine displayed a pleasant white background with text welcoming me to the school.  
“Zeta...Fal...Ueueur,” The pleasant voice coming from the wristband said.  
It got the first name right at least.  
“Next task: Advisor and roommate meet and greet. Please confirm awareness of task.”  
“Uh-huh.” I said.  
“Awareness of task confirmed. Please report to. Room 2.6.1.5.2.2222222222222—”  
“Uhhh…” I said as my wristband’s screen turned blue. Did it just die on me? Were my powers about to go berserk already?  
I powerwalked out of the aisle and the nearest teacher spotted my panic.  
“Just give it a second,” the teacher said. “The power blocking part isn’t tied to the OS, which is good because the OS is glitchy and sucks.”  
I nodded but I didn’t really get it. My band turned back on.  
“Zeta Faleur. Please report to the Pink Room. Room 2.6.1.5.2.2222222.”  
The audio was being glitchy again, but the waypoint projector was still working, and I was able to find the room. There was a binging noise as I walked in and my band blinked.  
“Zeta Faleur of Room 324,” the wristband said. “Please sit here and await further instructions.”  
The room was just about four rows of chairs, split up in threes. My wristband led me to my set of three chairs. I tried to prep myself for meeting roommates, something I very much was not ready for. If I sat in the middle seat, I ran the risk of not liking a roommate, or not liking either of my roommates and having to sit between both of them. The right seat was close to the center of the room, which could mean talking to even more people who weren’t even my roommates. The left seat gave me the most advantages to avoid talking to people. Wall seats were ideal for that, and then I could lean against it if I got tired or something.   
“Incorrect seat,” the wristband said as soon as I sat down. “Zeta Faleur of Room 324 has been assigned this seat.”  
It, of course, highlighted the middle seat. “Please take it to avoid confusing the seats of ROOMMATE and ROOMMATE.”  
“Don’t you mean my roommates will be confused, not the seats?” I asked.  
I thought I had made a great joke, but the system didn’t respond. It made me think my joke wasn’t so great.  
So far, I was alone in the room which was kinda creepy. I could hear the clock ticking every second.  
Finally, a girl walked in. She had short hair and the confidence of a movie star. She was led to the row right behind me. I reflexively shot my hand out like a dweeb because Stella had really made sure I always shook new people’s hands. “You can learn a textbook’s worth about a person by how they shake your hand when you first meet.” Stella said that a lot.   
“Ovie Chirhart,” She said to me, barely touching my hand with the daintiest handshake in history. “And yes, before you ask, that is of the Chirhart family.”  
“Wow,” I said. I wasn’t going to ask as I had no idea what Chirhart family she was talking about. I hoped I could nod my way through this.  
Ovie didn’t bother to ask my name. I was kinda glad she wasn’t my roommate. She was already in her uniform, and it made me suddenly spike in worry that I’d horrendously messed up already by not putting mine on. I was probably already on thin ice with the scholarship I had. Time seemed to move even slower until more students filed in. They mostly seemed to be the same kind of Cani I was, with just the fangs being the visual sign of their Cani-ness. They weren’t all in their uniforms at least so I wasn’t a total failure already.  
A girl in a yellow sundress walked towards me with a bright smile on her face. She had straight brown hair that had an orange flower pinned in it.  
“Hi! Are you Zeta or Kalei?” the girl asked me.  
“Uh, Zeta,” I said. “I like the flower in your hair!”  
“Don’t leave home without one!” She said, patting it gently. “Oh, I’m Oka by the way!”   
She held her hand out. I was grateful someone else had handshake etiquette training. I shook it quickly, not wanting her to notice how shaky and sweaty my palms were from the uniform worrying. She had a teal gemstone on her necklace, and a cloth on her wrist in a matching color.  
“I’m Zeta,” I said. “I…don’t even know where to start.”  
“Well, we could start with your hopes, dreams, how and when you got your fangs,” Oka said. “Did they tell you you’d have any other Cani stuff? I just have the fangs, but who knows with being a Cani right? There’s a curveball every week! Oh, and here!”  
Oka held a flower out to me. Identical to the one in her hair, it was mostly orange, with dots of bright yellow around the petals.  
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s really pretty.”  
“It’s called a sun kissed gem. It’s for good luck!” Oka said.  
I stared at it for probably an awkward amount of time. I finally looked back to Oka and saw her conjuring flowers out of the palm of her hands in a gentle green glow like it was nothing.  
“Is that your Cani gift? You can control it? Already?” I asked.  
“Yep!” Oka said proudly. “I’ve had my fangs since I was like a baby, so I’ve had a lot of time to practice. The big awakening thing happened so young I don’t even remember it.”  
My worry about roommates was half wrong at least. I liked Oka already, her personality felt bright and bubbly. Another girl stood in front of us.  
“Hey, are you guys Oka Ohri and Zeta…Falloooor?” The girl said, reading our names off her wristband that I apparently didn’t get lucky enough to get a functioning one that actually said names right.  
I sat there with a doofy smile on my face while the girl took her place by us and brushed her frizzy hair out of her face.  
“Yep, that’s us!” Oka said. “I’m Oka, and this is Zeta!” Oka said, giving Kalei one of the flowers she’d made.  
“Sweet,” She said. “I’m Kalei Koridia.”  
“I’m Zeta,” I said. “Oka already said that but…yeah, I’m Zeta Faleur.”  
I blushed at my inability to say a decent sentence while Kalei leaned back in her chair.   
“Remember your training,” Stella’s voice rang in my head. “A textbook’s worth in just a handshake, Zeta…” I held my hand out. Kalei was looking around the room though, so I awkwardly tried to turn it into a wave at someone across the room to save face in front of Oka. A girl in the direct line of my wave looked confused and terrified that I was waving, which made me confused and terrified. Burning red and defeated, I turned quickly and wanted to just give up existence for the day. Oka and Kalei didn’t seem to notice or care, though.

“Are they gonna like feed us, or do we have to go somewhere to get food?” Kalei asked.  
“I don’t think dinner’s being served for a while,” Oka said. “The teachers are coming in next, then we get the tour with our advisor, and then I think it’s the principal introduction.”  
“Ugh, I’m starving already.” Kalei said. “There better be a food break in there somewhere.”  
The row of seats next to us had been filled by two girls, who shared headphones as they watched something on a tablet.  
“I hate this part, Aira!” The smaller girl said. “Skip it skip it skip it!”  
“Nooo this is the best part! Arlit’s revenge!” The girl named Aira said. She had a hard candy in her mouth.  
The small girl noticed us staring and looked like we’d just shot her. They took their headphones out.  
“Oh, sorry.” Aira said.  
“It’s fine,” I said. “Everyone’s talking in this room so I’m surprised you can even hear it. Are you two watching Tower of Hate and Love?”  
“You watch that crap?” Kalei asked.  
I withered under Kalei’s powerful gaze.   
“I uh. You know. Sometimes when…I mean…. yeah.” I said.  
“Me too,” Kalei said, smiling again. “It’s so terrible, but it’s so good.”  
I sighed in relief, and then the short girl sighed in even deeper relief and whispered, “Conflict avoidance.”  
“Like it’s a dump of a show, but it’s my dump of a show.” I said.  
We introduced ourselves to the girls.  
“I’m Aira,” The taller girl said. “and this is Laenie! She’s shy.”  
“You’re joking,” Kalei said.  
Laenie kept her head low as she fidgeted with her hands. She muttered something.  
“Huh?” Aira said, practically shouting compared to Laenie.  
Laenie cleared her throat.  
“Sorry,” Laenie said. “It’s nice to meet you three.”  
Laenie made a peep noise again, and her face turned red.  
“What’s this show about?” Oka asked, poking at their tablet as if she’d never seen one before.  
“Oof,” Aira said. “Where do you even start?”  
“It’s about…uhhh,” I said. “Well, it starts with this guy and he hates his wife, but he can’t leave her because a contract binds his family to be married to people from the other wealthy districts. So he cheats on her with this other girl, but then she turns out to be a serial killer.”  
“So, he’s not a good person…” Oka said.  
“Yes, but that’s kind of the point I guess?” I said. “There are good people in the show though. There’s like eighty main characters. That guy is just for the first few seasons, then they move to a different time period with his kids then the grandkids but ratings tanked with him so they moved on to the next—”  
“This is really confusing.” Oka said.  
“It makes more sense if you watch.” Kalei said. “Or if it doesn’t, you at least get good eye candy.”  
“Maybe I can catch up between classes?” Oka said.  
“I have the first few seasons!” I said. “I guess we could stream it too whenever, but I like holding the actual thing better sometimes.”  
“We could have show nights!” Aira said. “Movie nights…that would be good to redeem the images of movie nights after what my cousin did at the last movie night I went to…”  
“Excuse me,” A girl said as she tapped me on the shoulder.  
I kinda wanted to hear Aira’s wild story, but I still turned around. There was just a girl with her head turned down towards her notebook. She kept biting the tip of her pen as she worked.  
“Yes…?” I said.  
“Have you been briefed on the concept of decorum?” She asked.   
The girl brushed aside her wavy bangs away from her glasses. There wasn’t a single fray off her uniform; she looked like she stepped out of an ad for Rising Shards. If I wasn’t so embarrassed, I would have asked her for some tips because even with all my morning pre-class “make Zeta look pretty” efforts, I didn’t get anywhere close to her level. Even her fangs were pristine.  
“Huh?” I said.   
“I’m speaking to you because I assume you can exert some kind of control over your companions.” The girl said. “I have a very important assignment I’d like to get done.”   
“An assignment?” I asked. “Already?”  
The girl glared at me like I’d said something offensive.  
“I’ll…try to keep them quiet.” I said.  
“I appreciate it.” She said coldly before turning back to her work.  
I didn’t really need to tell the others to keep it down as we all kind of hit an awkward wall at once, maybe all of us were just tired from the ride. All of the students had filled seats now.  
While I was expecting to see her, I wasn’t expecting to see two famous Cani streamers in class. At least, I was pretty sure it was them. A girl with way too much hair gel looked like he was trying really hard to impress the duo of Chellsi-Mikeila-Keila. I wasn’t entirely sure it was them, but nobody else seemed to notice the possible makeup tutorial streamers.  
A few teachers stepped into the room, led by a stern looking woman in military gear. She had a gaudy name tag over her gear that all the faculty had to wear. It said: Caya Kilander. So she was one of the Kilanders Diast had told me about that had something big going on at Rising Shards. Dr. Diast walked in closely behind her and waved when she saw me. There were three other teachers behind them.  
I did a bit of research on the Kilanders while I waited for school. I read that principal was one of them, and that the family owned the huge Kilander umbrella of companies that included Redgre Cola, Taramin Industries, and had a big stake in Rising Shards’ funding.   
Caya Kilander suddenly stomped a foot and stood up straight like we were her soldiers, and everyone immediately went silent.  
“Hello students,” she said. “Welcome to Rising Shards. We are the advisory staff for your classroom.”  
“We also teach too,” Diast said. Caya scowled at her. “What? That’s pretty important info too.”  
“I was getting to that,” Caya said. “First year Cani students will report to their advisor with their progress with their classwork and abilities, and any concerns they may have. Your advisor is your gateway to this new world. We have each been assigned a group of students from this class. Please join us when your name is called.”  
Caya called her students forward. I really hoped I had Dr. Diast. Ovie was with Caya, which somehow didn’t surprise me. I let out a small gasp when the duo’s name was called, I was totally right that they were Chellsi and Mikeila-Keila. Again, nobody else seemed to care but they were probably the most famous people I’d met in my entire life. I wondered if it’d be weird to get their autograph as the two teachers for the guys in our class called their students up. Mr. Krangel was a short but intense looking teacher, and he had hair gel girl in his group, whose name was Kyre Krista. Mr. Soleri called his students softly, as if he couldn’t be pressed to care about them.  
Diast called her students next.  
“Alright let’s see, I got Kalei Koridia, Oka Ohri, Aira Orbis, Laenie Aadris, Lillia Cadence, and Zeta Faleur. You all here? Perfect. Come on up.”  
Intense relief washed over me. I know Diast said she’d be my advisor, but I still thought something could have gotten mixed up since she told me that. As soon as we grouped up in front of her, all of our power blockers started talking at the same time.  
“Next, you will be joining your advisor for a tour of the school. Please stand near your advisor.” They all said at once.   
“Thanks, creepy robot voice,” Diast said, pressing a button on her wristband. “And mute.”  
Diast looked us over.  
“Oooof. This is a lot more than I’m used to,” Diast said. “Can I do this tour without any of you wandering off? Do we need a buddy system?”  
“It’ll be OK, Dr. Diast,” I said.  
“Perfect!” Diast said. “Alright, everybody get in a single file line. Or don’t. Whatever, let’s just go. It’s pretty breezy until the void test.”  
While I literally had just said “It’ll be OK, Dr. Diast.”, hearing her say “void test” made me immediately freak out. I unfortunately already had a taste of experience with the void.  
“But then summer ended. And I was alone.”  
“Hey, Zeta?” Oka asked.  
I snapped back to the present. Back to Rising Shards, far away from Wildfire Hearts. But not as far as I would have liked.  
“Huh?” I asked.  
“You were just kinda standing there spacing out.” Oka said. “You OK?”  
“Yeah, I was just…” I trailed off. “Thinking.”  
It was hard to bite my cheek in a way to hold the crying in but also not too hard to cut myself open with my fangs. I looked at the spot on my wrist where Jeans’ wristband used to be. I suddenly didn’t mind the power blocker as much, it covered up the small mark left by the piece of denim.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm 20 subscribers away from the big 100 so I wanted to share it here in a format that isn't me linking it in every endnote in every other story I write. Instead, I link it in the endnote of...the thing that it is.  
> https://tapas.io/series/risingshards


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